Hi everyone,

Normally, I do not have issues like this when dealing with reputable members of BHW. However in this instance, I believe I am 100% right in asking for what it due to me.

Chat Logs: (Please note, I removed Names and Websites to protect myself, and my servers. If a moderator would like to see the originals, I'm available for a TeamViewer session.)
AIM:

Code:

http://pastebin.com/SSs9Xk1D

Skype:

Code:

http://pastebin.com/bMt4yS22

I started talking to TreasureSender (AKA ebayMafia AKA "Andy") on December 5. He approached me and asked me to create a website product scraper based on a Chinese website. He showed me an example of what another programmer had created for him for $1k. We then discussed details of what he wanted created. We also agreed on a price of $1,000, set between $250 milestones.

Long story short: I worked my ass off untill 5:00AM to get this script done for him in 3 HOURS.

Here is him agreeing to the product :
eBayMafia Allen (344 AM): Yeah, we are on the same page, this is really what I was trying to get right from the start of the project.
healeyv3 (3:46:28 AM): And you got it done in 3 hours

Andy later said he wanted 1 more feature added before the script was done.(Shipping parsing), so I did it for him.

At 5:00AM I was tired, the script was finished, and Andy wasn't responding, so I said this :
healeyv3 (4:56:58 AM): It now does shipping (When there IS shipping)
healeyv3 (4:57:02 AM): Sometimes there isnt.
healeyv3 (4:57:35 AM): I'm tired, it's 5am here
healeyv3 (4:57:37 AM): I gotta head to bed.
healeyv3 (4:57:48 AM): We can figure out server arraingements and payment tomorrow.
healeyv3 (4:58:39 AM): i'll ttyl mate.

After this, Andy was online multiple times, and I tried to contact him multiple times.

treasuresender went idle at 5:21:44 AM
treasuresender came back from idle at 536 AM
treasuresender went idle at 5:40:54 AM
treasuresender came back from idle at 5:47:39 AM
treasuresender signed off at 650 AM
Friday, December 09, 2011
healeyv3 (6:42:31 PM): Hey mate, in the US yet?
Thursday, December 29, 2011
healeyv3 (449 PM): Hey mate!
healeyv3 (408 PM): Haven't heard back from you in a while, you around?
healeyv3 (4:42:54 PM): Well, please get in contact with me in the next few days, or I'll be forced to start a shit list thread :-\ . Thanks!
treasuresender went idle at 4:46:04 PM

Not being able to get through to him on AIM, I also tried to send him a BHW Message (His BHW Message Box is full.), and left him a Visitor Message on BHW saying to contact me.

Fast Foward - SKYPE Conversation with "Stephen Allen"
HealeyV3 has shared contact details with Stephen Allen.
[12/15/2011 5:46:19 PM] HealeyV3: Hey mate
[12/15/2011 5:46:42 PM] HealeyV3: Haven't heard back from you in a while, everything okay?
[12/15/2011 632 PM] HealeyV3: Hello?
[12/16/2011 1247 AM] HealeyV3: Hello?

Finally, Stephen answers on December 31st, 2011 at 9:38 PM.

Long Conversation Short:
"Stephen Allen" said he did not know anything about Andy making any deals. He was very professional with me, apologetic, and a nice guy all around. He explained to me that "TreasureSender" is a "Customer Service" AIM Screen name, and Andy should not have been on that.

Stephen Allen at this point said the following to me :
[12/31/2011 1017 PM] Stephen Allen: Andy is in business with me, so his decisions reflect upon myself and TreasureSender. I was previously unaware he had made agreements to make a payment but he could have been planning to pay for it out of his own pocket for all I know. Let me get in contact with him to see whats up, but I want you to know I accept the responsibility either way.
[12/31/2011 1022 PM] HealeyV3: I appreciate your attitude mate, and I more-over appreciate your help in this matter. Whether mine and Andy's business is continued or not, I would definitely like to keep channels open between the two of us.
[12/31/2011 1056 PM] HealeyV3: I'll let you get back to your holiday.
[12/31/2011 10:25:14 PM] HealeyV3: Please keep me informed on what you find out, and we can go from there.
[12/31/2011 10:25:27 PM] HealeyV3: Now get off your computer and go have a good time mate


The conversation ended on a basically "Good Note", with him saying he'd pay me no matter what happens since Andy committed to it.

Days go by...
[1/4/2012 2:52:19 AM] HealeyV3: Hi Stephen, please contact me back ASAP.
[1/5/2012 12:40:51 PM] HealeyV3: Hi, still waiting to hear back from you.

Finally, Stephen got back to me with this to say :
[1/6/2012 417 AM] Stephen Allen: Talked with Andy, he said he wasn't aware you were finished and with the loss of communication thought that you were no longer interested in the project.
[1/6/2012 435 AM] Stephen Allen: Is there a demo I can view?

WOW. At this point, I can't believe what I'm hearing. MY "loss of communication" caused Andy to think I was no longer interested in a project.... that I already coded... and was waiting on payment for.

Here is the last message I sent them that same day:

[1/6/2012 1:20:10 PM] HealeyV3: Hi,
I do not understand why Andy would say that, as he was the one that totally dissappeared. That actually makes me somewhat upset, as I have done everything in my power to get into contact with him. I've sent multiple messages to AIM, I sent him an email, I've left a BHW Visitor message. For him to say this is an outright lie.
[1/6/2012 1:20:41 PM] HealeyV3: My last message to him while he was online was something along the lines of "We will take care of delivery and payment tomorrow"
[1/6/2012 1:20:54 PM] HealeyV3: How would that in ANY way reflect a desire to NOT go ahead with work?
[1/6/2012 142 PM] HealeyV3: There is no demo currently online, but I have already shown Andy screenshots of the program in work, and I have shown you screenshots of the database.
[1/6/2012 1:25:24 PM] HealeyV3: As Andy has proven himself not to be a reliable business partner, I would like to deal with you exclusively.
[1/6/2012 1:26:28 PM] HealeyV3: I will be able to set up a demo for you on my server to view, or even a TeamViewer session on my PC to show you.
[1/6/2012 1:26:59 PM] HealeyV3: Andy was supposed to get a server set up, he has all of the specifications I've told him within the chat logs (You do as well).
[1/6/2012 103 PM] HealeyV3: I reccommended getting a Burst server.
[1/6/2012 146 PM] HealeyV3: When you get the server set up, I will be able to migrate everything over, in addition to setting up the database for you.
[1/6/2012 129 PM] HealeyV3: Before I migrate anything over, I expect at least a 75% payment at this point.
[1/6/2012 1:39:16 PM] HealeyV3: As this has also taken a lot longer than it ever should have, if we cannot come to an agreement within the next 48 hours, and get everything set up, I will be starting a thread on BHW, and posting all of the communications. This is nothing against you personally, but I did the work 100% to Andy's specifications, and for him to tell me that my lack of communication caused him to think our business is done is absolutely rediculous.
[1/6/2012 1:39:38 PM] HealeyV3: Hope to hear back from you soon Stephen, and I hope you understand none of my terse attitude is meant toward you at all


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Conclusion:

I have went out of my way to contact these people, and get what is owed to me. I created the script (Have not delivered, waiting on payment) 100% to Andy's Expectations. He agreed on price, agreed on the work to be done, and was very happy to have it done in 3 HOURS.

I simply want what's owed to me.
I'd be willing to settle the account by either:
1. You paying me $1,000 Owed. I set up the SQL Server to the Chinese Specs, and get the script installed and working on your server.
2. You paying me $500, I send you the script files, and we are done with all business together.

I am not an unreasonable man. I did work for you, at YOUR request, and created EXACTLY what you wanted, and you disappear. I only ask for what I deserve, nothing more, nothing less.

To Mods: I am more than happy to talk to any moderator about this situation.

Originally Posted by PeaceLoveSubmission1

Sum Ting Wong? he may be busy Wa Shing Ka or Lei Ying Lo. Never the less i think you should ask stephen Allen: Hu Yu Hai Ding???

lol sorry couldent resist.

Sorry, your situation is truly serious and I would be angry as hell on your side - but this was funny as hell.

Originally Posted by subster

Sorry, your situation is truly serious and I would be angry as hell on your side - but this was funny as hell.

Looks like he's banned now...

Originally Posted by HealeyV3

Looks like he's banned now...

Sorry, hope I didn't confuse anyone. I was referring to one of the posters on this thread that was banned, NOT eBay Mafia.

To the mods: Has anyone been able to get into successful contact with him?

Who scamemd who here?

Originally Posted by stressfree

Who scamemd who here?

Did you read anything I posted? I doubt so.

Me and eBayMafia agreed on a price of $1,000 for the work.

I did the work in 3 hours. I never got paid, eBayMafia is now MIA.

How could I have POSSIBLY scammed anyone here? Why would you even ask that? Seriously.... I am the one that made the shit list.....

Originally Posted by stressfree

Who scamemd who here?

I have never see a scammer open up a shitlist thread before... LOL

@OP: I think you learned a valuable lesson here... Get paid, then work. In coding cases at least a 50% deposit. That's standard in the web business.

Originally Posted by the_demon

@OP: I think you learned a valuable lesson here... Get paid, then work. In coding cases at least a 50% deposit. That's standard in the web business.

Yeah, I agree. I generally take a minimum of 25% before doing anything, but I looked at his BHW Rep and he looked like a trustworthy guy.... I also didn't think I'd finish the script in 3 hours

I assumed we'd be doing milestones, but I finished quicker than I expected.

I sent a PM to EbayMafia, he is required to respond or he will be banned.

He also hasn't been active in weeks.

Originally Posted by BleemZ

I sent a PM to EbayMafia, he is required to respond or he will be banned.

He also hasn't been active in weeks.

Thanks for your help Bleemz.
If you would like their email address, Skype ID, etc, just let me know.

While I see that he has not bee on BHW Lately, he HAS been on Skype, and has not responded.

Really sad to Hear that. I used to read "ebaymafia's" helpful thread about ebay .Such a shame that suddenly he became.

I hope he will go to helll

Originally Posted by stressfree

Who scamemd who here?

for making a stupid ass comment like that you should be banned!

to the OP I hope this get sorted for you, my fingers are crossed

I've read it all.. must say, they tried to fool you in the nice way with that other guy who was pretending to be a nice guy and explain the situation. It's clearly that they fucked it up somehow down there, and they didn't had any money left to pay. Maybe next time you should think why that guy had its username called ebayMafia..

Hope you get well!

HealeyV3: It's your call, he hasn't responded on my end nor here and it's been enough time. Do you want him banned now? I don't want to ban him without your input as that is enough money to matter.

Originally Posted by BleemZ

HealeyV3: It's your call, he hasn't responded on my end nor here and it's been enough time. Do you want him banned now? I don't want to ban him without your input as that is enough money to matter.

Hi BleemZ,

I appreciate all your help mate. (You need free tested public proxies, come to me, I'll give you a special link )

I think that in light of the fact that he has not been on BHW since Last Activity: 01-02-2012 11:16 PM, I'd like to hold off on the banning.

I'm a fair man, and I have never scammed a fellow BHWer, nor have I ever been unfair to one. I request that we postpone the ban until February 1st, 2012. This will give him at least 6 more days to log in, and clarify this situation.

He obviously knows what's going on, as he HAS been online on Skype, and HAS received my Skype messages, but maybe he just has something going on in his life that he just needs a little slack.

I'll re-update this thread Feb 1st requesting a banning if he hasn't shown by then.

Thank you to everyone on BHW for their support in this thread, and all of those that sent me private messages of support You guys are great!

UPDATE:

ebayMafia has signed online: Last Activity: 01-28-2012 04:39 PM

I'll give him 48 hours to respond.

Was the transaction made on a BST thread ? or a private transaction outside BHW ?

I think the other person who you thought was nice was probably the scammer pretending to be somebody else...

but it could be wrong, it just seems very fishy

Band Band Band.....its been long enough and it is obvious that he is not taking responsibility for his actions. It won't get your money back and they will probably create a new account under a different name but oh well.....
Regards
Suave

Bleemz : His time is up. Ban him when you get a chance, please.

While I didn't lose any of MY money, I definitely lost my time, which is one of my most valuable resources. Time = Money, and by him wasting my time, he cost me money.

There is NO room for people like that in BHW, and I feel no remorse by asking for his ban. Thank's to everyone that has been supportive!

EbayMafia has been permbanned for scamming HealeyV3.

I wish there was a way to permban him. Like whenever he comes to BHW in any type of device that connects to internet, he cant connect.

Ip ban is not enough!

Sorry this went down like that Healey, some people have no respect for others hard work.

Thanks everyone for your support in this!
We all need to stay vigilant against scammers like this, and help protect our ever growing community.

I can't imagine hiring someone to work for me on a project like this without having either (a) put money in some escrow service of (b) paying them a portion upfront.